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We wrote this guide to give you an overview of the benefits of using a template system for your branded marketing emails. It's written for all email marketing professionals (#emailgeeks), including email designers and developers, digital marketers, and marketing technology officers. If you're new to email marketing, have been doing work for a while, or are a long-time veteran, you will get something out of this guide.

Why use a template system?

A template system takes a modular approach to email design and offers a reusable framework for a more efficient workflow. It improves the quality and consistency of your campaigns while saving you time to focus more on marketing strategies and quality of interaction with your customers.

This guide is an overview of what's involved in developing a template for email campaigns with links to in-depth walkthroughs for each aspect of the process. It's divided into four essential steps:

Each part offers ways to develop a framework for your emails for reuse and efficiency. While there is some up-front time for initially putting together, using a template will save you a lot of time and simplify your workflow in the long term.

Common issues using a template system helps solve

Last minute requests

Lack of flexibility in making regular updates

Being dependent on a developer for updates

Reusability of assets

Design inconsistency

Work hours adding up

Invite your team to use this guide!

Your email:

Your colleague's email:

Custom message:

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Planning a templated email workflow

Email is a direct connection with your reader and should be about building a relationship with them. Make sure to keep in mind their perspective on the emails they receive from you. Make sure what you send is relevant and valuable to them. Consider each email as part of an on-going conversation with your audience.

Starting a campaign

Before getting into design and code, think about what you're trying to accomplish with your emails.

Set a goal

Every email should have a goal. To educate, get sign-ups, referrals, purchases, etc.

Who are you sending to?

Do you have an email list?

Is it segmented?

Is the message appropriate to them?

What do you want them to do?

What is the message?

Why should they care?

What are their next steps?

Measure success

What are the actions needed for your goal?

Is proper tracking in place?

Ensuring an open

From Name
Make it recognizable – ex: Joe from Company

From Email address
Avoid 'no-reply@company.com'

Subject Line
Straightforward and specific to email

Preheader/preview text
Don't forget to add additional code for this

Preflight checklist

Valuable content, design, overall experience

Targeted, relevant, personalized to the reader

Functional links and images

Check grammar and spelling

Using a template to improve email production

Having an email template system allows you to reuse components and make your process more efficient, allowing you to build more emails, faster. A template should use modular self-contained pieces, typically consisting of:

Modules - stackable sections that go between the header and footer

Layouts - columns and rows of content areas

Components - pieces like buttons and titles that can be used anywhere

Styles - variations of content areas to look a certain way

Keep this approach in mind and introduce the concept to your team as you design and build your templates. Having an underlying foundation allows everyone to better organize what they're already doing and essentially speak the same language throughout your email's workflow.

Additional resources

Invite your team to use this guide!

Your email:

Your colleague's email:

Custom message:

Note: Email addresses you enter will not be used for spam!

Designing a modular email template

Your company brand should have a style guide for all communications, both visually for your creatives and verbally for your copy. An email template would utilize the style guide and go even further in keeping your campaigns consistent in tone, quality, and overall user experience.

Elements that make up a good email template

These are tried and true parts of a standard email template. For a deeper dive into individual email campaign design tips and content considerations, see the additional resources below.

Header:logo, title

Intro

Keep central content within standard 600-640 pixel-wide area

Feature

Call to action

Multi-column layout

Keep colors in design limited for photos, illustrations and text content to stand out better

Footer:subscription reminder, unsubscribe link

Mobile version

Scale images down

Adjust text

Collapse multiple columns to single-column

Email design tips

Structure your campaign for easy reading: Make it scannable by breaking it apart with headlines, images, buttons, bullet points, etc.

Make it mobile friendly: At least 40% of email opens are on mobile devices (and increasing with time). Optimize for all screen sizes to ensure your readers convert.

Function over form, but don't forget the form: A good mix of visuals motivates a person to take action and reduces their anxiety towards action.

Alleviate the paradox of choice: When people have too many similar options, they struggle making a decision and end up not making a choice at all.

Focus your message and be concise: Reduce the length of your email until you can simplify no more. Some of the most effective emails have one clear message.

Additional resources

Invite your team to use this guide!

Your email:

Your colleague's email:

Custom message:

Note: Email addresses you enter will not be used for spam!

Coding a template for reuse

There are many different ways to code your email template. Choose which way you're most comfortable with as that will become the most efficient way to do it over time. Learn by example by looking at other people's code. Take advantage of libraries, template systems and frameworks.

Different approaches to coding

Code from scratch, writing all of your CSS directly inlineGives you a better handle of your code and makes it easy to troubleshoot later

Write CSS in head or an external file and use an inliner toolMakes writing CSS easier and allows for more complex styling

Use a framework/system that compiles your HTML and CSS (see below)Provides better management of more complex template building

Additional resources

Invite your team to use this guide!

Your email:

Your colleague's email:

Custom message:

Note: Email addresses you enter will not be used for spam!

Managing emails based on your template

Utilizing the benefits of a modularized template for your campaign planning, design and code allows for better management of your overall content workflow. Your framework acts as a model and you begin to better visualize your campaigns and develop a set of guiding principles to focus your content production around.

Tips to writing good copy

Ensure content is relevant to the reader and consistent to your central message

Don't advertise right away, start your email conversationally

Include valuable information, links to useful articles, etc

Create a hierarchy that makes the email easier to read through using headlines and subheads